The present invention relates to a method for producing a sheet-like or web-like decorative coating material, in particular a coating film, to such a decorative coating film and to the use of the same.
Decorative coating films are generally known from the prior art, for example in the form of so-called finish films; they are used for example to produce furniture and by way of exception to produce laminate flooring.
Particularly in this field of use or to coat other highly stressed surfaces such as, for example, in the kitchen or industrial production sector, the abrasion resistance of a coating produced with a coating film is of particular importance. From the prior art, procedures are known in which corundum-containing, duroplastic resins are used for laminate flooring; either the corundum is contained in a paper support (which is otherwise free of fillers), which is then impregnated with melamine-formaldehyde resin, or suitable papers are impregnated with corundum-containing resins (cf. in this respect DE 195 08 797 C1 for example). Once the resin films, together with an underlying paper which has likewise been impregnated with resin (and typically printed), have been pressed onto a support plate, a decorative material with an abrasion-resistant, duroplastic coating is obtained.
An alternative procedure for producing abrasion-resistant coatings is disclosed in DE 42 19 446. Fillers (usually corundum) are introduced into radiation-curing binders, wherein the binders are then applied in liquid form to a support. Following crosslinking by irradiation with UV or electron beams, the corundum particles are fixedly bound into the crosslinked binder so that the desired coating with a high abrasion resistance is produced.
However, the two procedures from the prior art which are described above are suitable only to a limited extent and under certain prerequisites for producing film-like coatings which can be laminated and covered (that is to say which are highly flexible). This is because coatings comprising duroplastic and radiation-crosslinked binders are very brittle, especially in the case of relatively large layer thicknesses and a high crosslinking density. Moreover, the coatings produced in the above-described manner, when they exist in film form, are not flat but rather tend to curl undesirably, so that subsequent further processing is made much more difficult.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a decorative coating material, in particular in the form of a decorative coating film, which is much more flexible than materials known from the prior art and thus is suitable for surface laminating and covering tasks, and which moreover exists in flat form and does not curl undesirably once the production process is complete. A method for producing such a coating material (coating film) is also to be provided.